Tea Bags

Back again! I've got to say I am feeling a bit cranky today, no-one seems to understand the effort it takes just to get up in the mornings sometimes, and then all it takes is one negative encounter and BOOM, you're sent scuttling into the safety of home.

A few weeks ago (when the sun was actually shinning and I sat in the garden with a small strappy top on trying to catch some rays) my daughter noticed some brown splodges on my skin, they look a lot like tea stains, since then literally about fifty times a day at least one of the daughters is asking me if I have rung the doctors about my splodges...NOOOOO I haven't....Do you know how difficult it is to get to see a doctor??

Eventually I ring the surgery, I request an appointment....at the moment we are only providing telephone appointments, the doctor will ring you tomorrow between 8am and 12. 

The following day, said doctor rings me and asks what the problem is, I try to explain that it looks a lot like someone has been throwing wet teabags at my chest...he ignores me and asks if I pay for my prescriptions.....errrr what's that got to do with my teabag situation.....No, I do not pay for my prescriptions.....in that case, go to the chemist and ask them.

He then tries to dismiss me, but I also need a repeat prescription for a different aliment, so I get a sigh and a ok, I will send it to the chemist, Goodbye, I'm left staring at the screen of my phone as it turns back to the photo of Ralph I have on my home screen.

Mate, You cant catch Corona virus down the bloody phone line, the more I thought about it the more irritated I became, So, Its ok for me to go join the que at the chemist, lift my T shirt up in the middle of the shop for half of the bloody village to inspect my Teabags, But its not ok to actually have a doctor look at it, why is he any more at risk than anyone else? Why are the doctors not seeing anyone? How much did he get paid for 30 seconds on the phone to tell me to bog off down the chemist?

I know my teabag thing is probably just a skin complaint, but I bet if I google it, its gonna be some rare disease and I'm gonna be dead in the next 24 hours......how many people are ignoring symptoms of something bigger because they know the doctors are on lock down?

Its ok though, cos next week you'll be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with people in Primark and all touch the same clothes!

The 'real' NHS workers are over stretched, while Mr Doctor down the road causally passes the buck onto whoever is nearest.

Anyway, the following day, off I go to the local chemist, outside the shop is a little wooden table with a sign propped up saying...well, saying something, cos no one thinks about the fact that some people cant read small print, so I hover around the wooden table as I feel the massive knot in my stomach start to rise as I have no idea if I am supposed to wait outside, then I hear...COME IN...being barked at me, I assume its me anyway as I don't have anyone else standing with or near me, so, in I go...how can I help.....so I explain about my teabag problem and that Mr Doctor down the road had told me to bring my teabags into a public area so that the village can gossip that I have been having kinky sex with some teabags. Silence... Mr Chemist steps forward, and apologies for Mr Doctor, leads me into a little room and looks at my teabags from a distance and recons he has some cream for that!

I come out of the little room, by which time two other people were in the shop and about five were standing outside, I buy my cream from the lady behind the screen and just as I am about to turn to leave I remember I also had a prescription to pick up, with a sigh the lady behind the screen finds my prescription and asks if I pay for it.....No, I do not pay for it.....Well, tick the relevant box and pushes the slip under the space in the screen, since I am on my own I explain that I cannot read the slip so I will need help, well you would have thought I had taken a bite of her cream cake....I CANT DO THAT! well, my lovely lady, if you want me to tick the bloody box you are going to have to show me where it is, or tick it for me! Silence again and I can feel her staring at me though the screen daring me to refuse to tick the box, So I take a little step forward and point to the bright yellow badge I wear on my work uniform which says I have a sight impairment, and say I'm sorry, but I literally cant see where or what box needs to be ticked.

The next minute, the chemist man was around the side of the desk quicker than a whippet, snatched the prescription off the lady behind the screen, quietly asked me which category box I fitted into and filled it in for me, he then slapped it back on the counter by which time the lady behind the desk had already expressed her sorryness about fifty times to which I was saying its fine, and the chemist man was saying its not fine! The chemist man helped me out of the shop and I stood quietly for a minute trying to calm the big ball of whatever it is that makes my heart beat faster and my eyes want to leak big fat tears. In the back ground I could her the lady telling the chemist she was sorry, but he was like, you are here to help, it doesn't matter if that person has a disability or not, it could be something you cant see, if someone asks for help...you help, we are here to help each other out. 

Yesterday, I had to push myself to get out of bed, Yesterday I couldn't go out on my own, Yesterday I couldn't face the supermarket, Yesterday I didn't get dressed, and that is all it takes, one tiny negative encounter, be careful how we respond to each other out there guys, you never know how your reaction to a situation will affect that person.

Take care and speak soon x